


Inside My Head

by paraflymore



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Because boinking your cousin in the real world is frowned upon, F/M, Jon and Sansa Are Not Related, jonsa, jonsa modern au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-18 15:58:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11877906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paraflymore/pseuds/paraflymore
Summary: Sansa didn't realize how lost she was until he found her and Jon didn't realize how broken he was until she started putting him back together...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys. This is my first Modern AU and I have to say I am quite enjoying writing this. Hope you all enjoy my labor of love.

Sansa fidgeted with the key in her front door. It had been almost two months since she and Gilly had moved in to their new house and she still had trouble getting the front door open.

It wasn’t much, a rundown old split level with a leaking roof but Sansa had grown quite fond of their place. That is until it rains...

Letting out a long sigh she jiggles the nob and in frustration drops her bag on the porch, spilling the entire contents at her feet.

“Fucking hell.” She cursed, kneeling down to grab her things.

The door flew open the and Sansa looked up to find Gilly's new boyfriend standing there with a shy smile on his round face.

“Hello, Sansa.” He says, leaning down to help her pick up her things.

“Thanks, Sam I got it.” She tells him with a smile, gathering all her things before he can get down to help.

Both of them exchanged nods and Sam steppes aside so she could get inside. “Well, I was heading out, see you ‘round.” He tells her quickly as he heads out the door, awkwardly bumping into the door frame as he shuts it behind him.

Gilly stands at the top of the stairs in nothing but an over sized t-shirt she assumes to be Sam's and a pair of black underwear. Her mousy brown hair a disheveled mess. Her big brown eyes glaring at her.

“Oh my God, you guys were totally doing it!” Sansa jokes, walking to the fridge to grab a soda.

Gilly laughs. “And you scared him off wrestling with the door like that.”

She shrugs, popping the soda can open, sipping the grape soda and smirking at her friend.

The old Sansa would have pressed her for details but this one will just shake her head and smile.

“Did Margaery text you about tonight?” Gilly asks, pulling the cinnamon toast crunch from on top of the fridge and opening it, the plastic rustling as she grabs a handful.

“Nope.” Sansa tells her, but her phone had died at about ten that morning and she didn't really care enough to find a charger.

Gilly frowns. “We're going out.”

Sansa's turn to frown. “I'm not going out, I have too much stuff to do.”

“Sansa, its Friday night, and you have been moping around…”

“Moping?”

Gilly nods. “Yes. Come on just come out for one drink, Sans.”

She frowns. She could put off her paper for at least one night, besides it was hard to tell Gilly no. She had those big puppy dog eyes and pouty lips. She always looked as of she was on the verge of tears any ways.

“One drink.” Sansa agrees, reaching inside the box to grab her own handful of cereal.

That is how she finds herself here, standing in the middle of her room, the entirety of her closet now on her bed. Margaery was sifting through the mess while Sansa ran a straightener through her auburn locks.

“Sansa, you really don't have anything to wear.” Margaery muses, her hands on her hips. The brunette makes a face and sighs in frustration at the mountain of clothes in front of her.

She shrugs, once upon a time Sansa had all the nicest clothes. She put herself in credit card debt maintaining her wardrobe.  
But she was no longer that girl.

With a frustrated groan Margaery pulls her silver top off and tosses it at her friend. “Wear that.”

Sansa laughs, looking down at the shiny silver top in her hands. “Are you serious?”

Margaery nods, reaching for a green top that looked fairly cute enough. Margaery Tyrell could make a brown paper bag look good.  
“I am so happy you're coming out with us tonight.” She tells her excitedly.

Sansa smiles, the motions of pretending that she actually wanted to be going out. Over the past few years she had gotten good at pretending. Sansa was almost an expert at the charade.

Margaery smoothed down the front of the top and looked at her reflection in the full length mirror on the back of the closet door.

Satisfied with her hair, Sansa puts on some mascara and then puts the silver top on. It fit like a glove, and showed off a little of her midriff. She sighs. “I am not wearing this.” Margaery sighs. “Sansa Stark, it won't kill you to show off that figure of yours every once in a while.”

“It might…”

Margaery smiles, looking at her friend. They had met when Sansa was still dating Joffery, back when she was still trying to convince herself that despite his actions that he was still a good person.

Margaery was a good friend, she was one of the reasons Sansa got up the courage to leave him in the first place.

Someone knocks on the door and Sansa sighs. She knows it's Robb as does her friend because she smiles widely.

“He can't stand to be away from me for longer than a few minutes.” She jokes, squeezing the younger girls shoulder as she passed.

“Come in.” Sansa hollered, “picking up a leather jacket and sliding it on as the door flew open.

Her brother was as handsome as he was sweet. His dark auburn curls and crystal blue eyes were just the tip of the iceberg. All of Sansa's friends growing up had crushes on him.

Margaery Tyrell was no exception to that rule.

Sansa was glad they had found each other, Robb had been like a sad puppy after his ex moved back to Spain. When the ochre haired beauty came home with Sansa for Thanksgiving the two of them were like something out of a romantic movie.

It was still that way most of the time.

Robb had followed in their father's footsteps and joined the Army. He had just finished a tour in Iraq and the two of them had been inseparable ever since he'd gotten back home.

Margaery walks over to him and they whisper softly to each other for a moment.

Sansa glances the picture on her dresser of her father. She missed him terribly. It had been almost nine years since the accident that ripped her family apart forever. 

She shivers, remembering with perfect clarity how it felt, the car jerking off the road, the sound of crunching metal. Her screams echoing in her own ears as she fell in and out of consciousness.

Sansa takes a deep breath. Trying to remember her father with a smile on his kind face and not covered in blood.

“Sans.” Robb’s kind voice interrupts her memory and brings her back to the present.

“Hmm?”

“You ready to go?” Its Margaery who asks this, and Sansa nods. Putting her forced smile back on her face. She wondered if she was even fooling them anymore.

Sansa Stark had lost a piece of herself when he father died. She couldn't stop thinking about how awful she had been the entire day. She had been upset he wouldn't let her get her belly button pierced, her friend Jayne had hers done and Sansa could not fathom why her parents wouldn't allow her to do the same.

 _“You'll look like a slut.”_ Arya had said from the backseat and her and Bran had snickered.

Sansa had been so angry with all of them. She hated being the butt of a joke. Even her father cracked a smile at the remark which just angered her even more.

She had crossed her arms over her chest. _“I hate you, I hate you all.”_

Of course she tells herself that they were just words and they didn’t mean anything. But it doesn't do much to ease her guilt.

Her and Arya were okay. Both of them escaped the wreck with minimal injuries. The truck had rammed into the side of the car where her younger brother and father were sitting. Bran escaped with his life, but would never walk again. And their father, he fought for so long but he was brain dead, and there was no saving him.

Sansa never got to tell him she was sorry and she never would.

It was a pain she would live with for the rest of her life.

 

* * *

 

The music from the bar is loud enough to be heard from the street, and Sansa looks up at the sign hanging crookedly over the entrance.

 _Giantsbane_.

Her eyes scan curiously over the clientele that litter the sidewalk, all biker types woth tattoos and piercings. She throws Gilly a look of concern.

“Don't.” Gilly says, dropping her arm from Sam's and making her way towards her friend. “Don't give me that look, Sansa Stark.”

Sansa rolled her eyes and nudged her friend a little. “I just have to stay for one drink, right?”

Just as she says it someone poked her in the ribs and she jumps wildly, scaring Gilly who glares at the culprit of the scare.

 _Theon Greyjoy_.

Sansa rolls her eyes, swatting angrily at him. “You twat.”

He chuckles, his blue eyes narrowing in on her chest and his lips turning into a smirk. “You look lovely tonight.”

“Fuck off.” She says, taking Gilly's arm and leading her towards the entrance of the bar. A tall guy with bright red hair and a matching beard stood outside, laughing with a couple of patrons. He waved excitedly at Sam as they all approached.

Sansa gave Margaery a look as Gilly went to join the Sam at the door and the big guy picked her up and hugged her laughing wildly.

She remembers her mentioning that Sam had some very interesting friends.

She grabs Margaery’s arm and Robb and Theon exchange fist bumps. The two of them had always been friends. Sansa felt as if he practically lived with them growing up. He had been hitting on her since she grew boobs. Of course back then it was almost flattering, now it just pissed her off.

“You failed to mention Theon was coming.”

Margaery feigns a smile. “You know he follows your brother around like a lost puppy.”

Sansa rolls her eyes again, following the group towards the giant man at the door who was just now sitting Gilly back on her feet.

Sam proceeds to introduce them all, and the man greets them all with an equal amount of enthusiasm. Its refreshing really and Sansa decides that she likes this Tormund guy.  
Even when he hugs her tightly and says. “This one is wild, kissed by fire.”

“Excuse me?” Sansa asks with a small laugh.

“Ginger hair.” He explains, with a flick of his owm red mane. "It's good luck where I come from.”

Sansa nods, she quite liked that analogy. She had always been teased for her red hair growing up. She had even dyed it blond once.

The group settles into an easy banter with him and Sansa catches Theon looking at her again.

It was one night, so long ago Sansa had convinced herself it never happened. She had been really drunk and wanted to make Joffery mad and there was Theon. It was a mistake, one of the many things Sansa wished she could undo.

She sighs, wishing she could just flick him away like an annoying bug.

“First round is on the house.” Tormund exclaims. “Just tell my surly bartender I said,” He winks at her and Sansa smiles, tugging her friend inside.

Inside there was a small stage opposite the bar. A skinny girl with wild red hair and tuning her electric guitar stood. She also waves at Sam and he goes over to chat with Gilly in tow.

“Let's get a drink.” Margaery says, pulling her towards the bar.

Tge bar was full of people, most of them were already crowding around the stage, but some were sitting on bar-stools. Sansa noticed that most of them had the same red hair as the giant guy outside and the girl on stage.

“Is it Gingers night?” Theon jokes, sliding up next to her, while Robb snaked his arms around Margaery’s waist.

Sansa almost admired them. The gentle way Robb was with her it reminded her of her parents.

When she was just a little girl she remembered watching them slow dance together from the top of the stairs while they thought all of their children slept.

Sansa always dreamt of falling in love like that.

But all she ever got was Joffery Lannister and a whole lot of heartache.

Sansa had long since given up on the idea of love.

Theon slides closer, his bony fingers capturing hers on the bar. Sansa yanks her hand away and glares at him. “Not tonight, Theon.”

He sighs, and she can see him growing angry. He did not like to be told no. None of the Greyjoy did. They were known for their barbaric attitudes, the only one of then Sansa could ever stomach was his older sister Yara who every time she sees Theon she puts him in a headlock and gives him a well deserved noogie.

 _Where was Yara Greyjoy when you need her?_ Sansa muses, just as the bartender turns his attention to her. She is struck for a moment by the set of dark brown eyes on hers.

He was stunning.

But Sansa Stark didn't notice things like that anymore about men.

“What can I get ya?” he asks, his voice hoarse like he had been yelling or something. The cadence of it made her stomach feel like it was on a roller coaster.

“I'll have whatever's on tap.” Sansa says, her own voice feeling scratchy on its way up. She found herself wanting to reach out and touch the silky dark hair that fell almost to his shoulders in soft curls.

 _How was is fair for a man to have such amazing hair?_ She wonders, watching the muscles in his arm flex as he filled the glass up for her.

“I'll take a pint myself, barkeep.” Theon tells him, his eyes narrowing.

He is trying his hardest to look intimidating but the guy doesn’t falter. He almost looks amused.

He grabs another glass and Sansa smiles, reaching for her wallet.

“Big guy outside said first round was free.” Theon tells him with a scoff.

Sansa rolls her eyes. “I was giving him a tip you twat.”

The guy chuckles. “Keep your money sweetheart.” He nods, sitting the glasses in front of them and moves on to wait on Robb and Margaery. Sansa takes a beer and wanders off from the bar. As much as she was enjoying the view there, Theon was grating her nerves. She was already imagining inflicting bodily harm upon him.

“How's school going?” He asks, catching up with her.

Sansa takes a long drink of her beer. “The bar is full of pretty girls Theon, why are you still talking to me?”

“Because you're the prettiest.”

She scoffs. “Leave me alone.” Sansa tells him seriously, walking off to join Gilly at a small table she was sitting at, scrolling through her phone.

“He's like a parasite or something.” She says, plopping down next to her friend.

Gilly nods. “You slept with him.”

“Yeah, like a million years ago.” She admits, rolling her eyes. It almost sounded ridiculous even though she knew it was true.

She laughs. “He's harmless right?”

Sansa nods. She had dealt with guys who made Theon Greyjoy look like a Chihuahua.

Gilly smiles, her eyes on Sam while he talked with the cute bartender. “That's Sam's good friend Jon.”

Sansa nods, looking up at them and meeting the bartender's gaze momentarily.

“He's single.” Gilly tells her.

Sansa takes another long sip. “Good for him.”

Her friend laughs playfully. “You don't have to be afraid of men your whole life.”

Sansa knows she means no harm. Gilly herself was no stranger to angry men and their hateful ways but the comment hit her hard in the gut.

_The truth hurt._

But Sansa still couldn't meet her friend's eyes for a moment while she steadied herself.

“I'm sorry Sans.” Gilly apologizes. Her voice was small and sincere.

“Its fine.” She says, looking back up at the stage where the full band now stood ready for their show.

 _At least there would be some live music,_ Sansa thinks. _It will drown out all of these thoughts._

Sam made his way to their table carrying drinks for him and Gilly. Robb and Margaery were behind him, her tucked under his arm. She was the only one who wasn't drinking beer, a pink colored martini in her hands. Theon chatted up a pretty blond by the stage.

On the stage, the skinny red head leans into the microphone. “Welcome everyone, we are the Wildlings.”

The loud rock music fills the small bar, it was almost too loud and Sansa found herself longing to be anywhere else than sitting inside this bar.

She couldn't even really explain.

Some times she just got like this for no reason at all.

Sliding her beer across the table to Margaery and she stands up, letting out a deep breath.

“I need some air.” She tells then, her hip bumping into Sam's chair as she resists the urge to run. “I'll be right back.”

Margaery and Gilly exchange looks of concern but they let her go outside without much of a fuss.

They knew better than anyone that some times Sansa just needed a moment to herself.

“She's fine.” Margaery reassures Robb, whose blue eyes follow his sister as she exits the bar.

But Margaery didn't know if she was reassuring him or herself after she said it.

 

* * *

 

Jon let out a deep breath, pulling his pack of cigarettes from his pocket and putting one between his teeth as he dug for a lighter in his jean's pocket.

He hadn't had a break all night, finally Tormund had came to relieve him and let him have a smoke.

He was ready to lose his mind.

Ygritte was back in town with her band and his new lady friend, as Sam liked to call them, was supposed to show up some time tonight.

Jon hoped the two women wouldn't kill each other, otherwise he would have to find another girl he could suffer him long enough to get off.

It was an endless cycle with him.

He takes a long draw from his cigarette. The two girls were basically the same person, only their looks differed. Both of them hot headed, both of them didn't know when to shut their mouths.

It was Tormund that pointed this similarity out to him.

But Jon had shrugged him off. His boss was just a drunk fool. But the more he thought about it the more he realized his two lovers were almost the exact same person.

And it said a lot about him.

Maybe he really did thrive off chaos.

_Just like his father._

He finishes his cigarette and reaches for his pack to light another one when he looks up and sees that he's being watched.

“Those things will kill you.” The girl says. Her voice is soft like silk but full of steel at the same time.

“So will just about everything else.” Jon tells her, rising up from the bench to smirk at her.

She was the sweet girl from the bar who tried to tip him.

She smiles, tucking her long red hair behind her ear. “Your Sam’s friend?”

He nods, “and your Gilly's friend.”

The girl nods, “Sansa.”

Sansa. He likes the way it sounds and he finds himself wanting to say it out loud but thinks better of it.

“That's an interesting name.”

The girl nods. “It's an old family name.”

“I'm Jon.” He offers. “Jon Snow.”

Sansa smiles again and its breathtaking on her face. She looked so out of place here in this shitty bar in this shitty town. She looked like she belonged on the covers of magazines.

“Are you not enjoying the band?” He asks, for lack of something better to say.

Sansa shrugs. “Its okay. I just felt a little claustrophobic in there.”

“Yeah, me too.”

She chews on her bottom lip, and Jon finds himself wishing to do the same, only with her pinned between him and his mattress.

“Was that guy your boyfriend?” He wonders out loud.

“Who? Theon?” She laughs, it’s a musical sort of sound and Jon can't help but marvel at it. She sounded like an angel. “Nope. Not even my friend. He's just some guy my brother hangs out with.”

Jon nods, trying not to be too pleased by the revelation.

“Jon?” he hears from behind her, and he sees Dany Targaryen standing there. Her long blond hair braided back from her face. Long black dress showing off her curves and the dragon tattoo on her shoulder. He smiles, stepping past Sansa as he goes to greet her.

They had met only a few months ago, she strolled into town with what looked like a biker gang, minus the bikes. She wore a leather jacket and biker boots with a pair of short denim shorts and a bright blue top.

He had never seen anyone so beautiful before.

Dany like him was an orphan, in and out of the system her entire life. The two of them hit it off immediately but as beautiful as she was Dany could also be cold.

Jon didn't care much for that aspect of her personality. But he was still floored by her physical appearance to care too much.

Besides, wasn't like he planned on marrying her. He just wanted to fuck her. Repeatedly, all night long.

He turns around to look at the girl Sam had been telling him about for weeks. The nice girl with the pretty smile who Sam believed would be perfect for him.

But she was gone.

“Who was your friend?” Dany asks with an amused smirk.

Jon shakes his head. “Just some girl.”

She nods, seeming pleased. “You gonna get me a drink or what?”

He leads her inside, his hand on the small of her back. He hoped that Ygritte wasn't feeling to frisky tonight. She had been hooking up with her ex for quite some time so Jon knew it wasn't completely on him now for hooking up with someone else.

He just hoped that he could get through the night without fighting.

But that was looking quite grim at the moment.

It was easy really, while Ygritte was on stage with the band, Dany at the bar with him, sipping on a vodka and soda and giving him the eyes.

It was easy until the music stopped and then that is when the real fun started.

She knew. Ygritte could be called a lot of things, but stupid was not one of them.

It wasn't like they had ever done much more than fuck. Ygritte was just as dead set on keeping their relationship as casual as he was. But as she makes her way to the bar, eyes on the petite blond Jon couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

“Get me a drink Snow.” She calls, her voice louder than the entire crowd inside Giantsbane that night.

Jon looks up to his friend. The big guy only shrugs as he hands beers out to the group of college students standing before him. “That's all you.”

He took a deep breath filling a glass with whiskey and handing it to Ygritte. She smirks at him and looks at Dany.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” She mimics back, her blue eyes set fire as she looks up at the red head.

“I don't know you.”

Dany nods, her finger tracing the rim of her glass slowly. “No, you wouldn't.”

Ygritte looks up at him, her eyes dancing with mischief. She was gonna do something, Jon could tell. He looks back at Tormund, who held his hands up and just smirks.

Fucking Wilders stick together.

The entire bar was filled with even more of them, all cousins and brothers and sisters. Their red hair like a badge of honor.

“You fucking him?” She asks, jutting her chin towards him with a hard look on her face

Dany's eyes grow wide. She almost laughs at her as she says, “You serious?”

Ygritte nods, her eyes filled with rage as sge stares at Dany.

“I don't know of you can call it fucking," she looks back over her shoulder at him, smirks and then looks back at the redhead. "He does like to go down on me for hours at a time.”

He buries his face in his hand as Tormund claps his hand on his shoulder and laughs.

“This is better than pay-per-view.” He chuckles.

 _Yeah_ , Jon thinks, as he watches the two girls lunge at each other. Nothing like a good old girl fight, you know unless its at your own expense.

Jon hops the counter, and of course one of Ygritte’s cousins grabs him by the front of his shirt and punches him in the jaw.

Jon Snow hated fighting, but that didn't mean he wasn't good at it.

He grabs said cousin and upper cuts him in the jaw sending him flying backwards. He glances at the two women, both of whom are exchanging blows.

No hair pulling yet, and it was such a shame.

Another one of the Wilders jumps on his back, sending him flying to the floor. Jon's stunned only for a moment, elbowing the guy in his ribs to knock him off of him.

For that first time that night Jon wished he would have just had Dany meet him at his flat.

Would of saved him the bloody nose.


	2. Chapter 2

As Sansa made her way back into the bar the music had stopped, and she lets out a small sigh of relief, but just as she swung open the front door chaos erupted.

Fists and curse words flying every where.

 _Fucking hell_. She thinks, wondering if she should just head back out the door and back home and try to forget this night even happened.

Then she sees him. His face covered in blood, his fist slamming into some red head guy's face, over and over again.

Smashing his face into a bloody pulp.

Sansa had been punched in the face like that once. Joffery had nearly took her front teeth out when he struck her. She could still remember how it sounded, hearing her bones crunch beneath the force of his fist. The bright white light she saw and how she thought he was going to kill her.

The blood had stained the carpet of their apartment and he ended up having to ask his mother for money to get it replaced.

Sansa swallowed the bile in her throat.

It was a mistake to come out tonight.

She's frozen. Her face a mask of fear.

Sansa was reliving what could only be described as the worst time in her life. After that fight she didn't see her mother for weeks. She didn't even talk to her friends. Her face had been swollen and bruised for weeks, she couldn't even talk right.

Joffery had been so apologetic. He baught her a bouquet of flowers every day, he got her exspensive jewelry all to try and make up for hurting her.

And she forgave him.

She is so immersed she doesn't even notice the two guys getting closer. They are so caught up in their fighting that they don't see her either. Just as she is about to get knocked over, someone grabs her around her waist, pulling her out of harm’s way.

Thw sudden jolt brings her back to reality and she looks over at her savior. He wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. Stocky build, blue eyes, dark hair. But his smile was kind.

“Are you alright?” He asks, his voice sincere and kind.

Sansa nods, recollecting herself in front of this stranger. She takes a step back.

“Yes, I'm fine. Thank you.”

He nods, smiling a shy smile. “There is a fight here every week, I think its part of the custom or something.” He jokes.

She wonders if he can tell how freaked out she is.

Sansa can't help but smile at him. His eyes were kind and gentle. She had never seen a pair so blue before.

“I'm Ramsay.” He tells her. His voice sweet like honey.

“Sansa, nice to meet you Ramsay.”

He extends his hand and she shakes it firmly.

“Nice handshake you got there Sansa, you must practice.”

She laughs. He was funny, and quite charming. And there was something alluring about his eyes. “My father actually did used to make us practice.”

“Mine too.” He tells her with a quirk of a smile. “He's in politics, what does you father do?”

Sansa swallows the lump in her throat. “He's passed.”

Ramsay's eyes grow sad. “I am so very sorry, Sansa.”

“It was a long time ago…” she says. Some times it still felt like she lost him yesterday, but she reminded herself again and again how much time had passed.

You are no longer allowed to mourn him. She would say to herself when she got too upset over the thought of him.

“I lost my mother when I was young. I know that pain all too well.” Ramsay tells her.

She softens at the sound of his voice. Maybe it was the half a glass beer she'd drank or the fact that this handsome guy had stopped her from getting hurt.

Either way, she found herself really into this guy. The fighting eventually calmed down, and she watched Jon help the blond haired beauty up from the ground and she kissed him passionately. The two of them, both a bloody mess escaped into the back while Tormund separated the rest of the fighters, scattering them like flies.

Sansa and Ramsay had settled into a decent conversation and Margaery watched with excitement as her friend attempted to flirt with her new friend.

She was definitely out of practice.

Robb smiled at his girlfriend knowingly, leaning his face into her hair. “You're like a little mother hen with her.”

Margaery laughs, leaning away from him and looking back at him with an incredulous smile. “She's my friend.”

“Aye, but you treat her more like a little sister.”

He had been on this kick for weeks. Since he got back from his latest tour. Robb had only hinted on the idea of marriage but Margaery knew him well enough to know what he was getting at.

She kissed him, grabbing his chin as she leaned in and capturing him there. She loved him so much she ached with it.

But marriage, commitment. It was all foreign and strange to her.

Her own brother had recently settled down in New York with hos boyfriend Renly. The two of them were absolutely happy.

But Margaery still feared she could never really be that way.

Some times she blamed his job, other times she blamed her own broken home for her apprehensions. It was becoming some what of an issue at this point, especially with Robb bringing it up.

He pulls away, his blue eyes had a dreamy look to them. He was drunk, she knew this by the way his hand had creeped up and down her leg all night.

“We should get you home, sailor.”

He nods in agreement.

Margaery offers him a quick peck and gets up to settle there bill. Robb watches her saunter up to the bar. Swaying her hips with a purpose. She knows he’s watching her.

“How long have you two been together?” Sam asks him.

“Two and a half years.” Robb tells him.

“That's amazing, you mjst really love her then..."

"Aye, I love her more than anything."

 

* * *

 

“Oh God, don't stop.” Dany mumbles, her hand pulling slightly on his hair as he thrusted up and inside of her.

Jon had brought her into the back office to clean her bloody knuckles, but he found himself here, with her legs wrapped around his hips and her ass perched on the small sink.

“So. Fucking. Good.” He grunts, his words matching the quick movement of his hips.

 _You could definitely call this fucking._ He thinks, looking up at her face that was flushed with ecstasy. She was gorgeous, this wild beautiful woman writhing against him.

It was like an outer body experience when he was inside her. She was molten hot, quivering and spatting his name like he was some kind of God. She begged him for release.

Dany tosses her head back, a soft moan escaping her lips. She let herself go, shaking a little as her hands tightened on his shoulders. Jon joins her then, thrusting inside of her a little roughly and biting down on the dragon on her shoulder.

They stayed that way for a few moments, both of them catching their breath.

Dany is the first to move, pulling her dress back down and reaching for a roll of paper towels to clean herself up. Jon leans against the sink for support. His legs still felt a little wobbly. He takes the condom off and tossed it into the small trash can a few feet from him.

“She's in love with you.” Dany says quietly.

Jon scoffs. “Ygritte?”

Dany laughs. “Who else would I be referring to?”

He pulls his pants back up and turns to look at her. “I'm not in love with her.”

Dany nods. “You don't love any one? Right?”

Jon sighs, running his hand softly through his hair. “I thought that wasn't going to be a problem.”

Dany glares at him. “It's not.”

“I'm sorry she hit ya.” He tells her with a smirk.

Dany rubbed her jaw, it was already starting to bruise. “I'm not, that was the most fun I've had in months.”

Jon laughs, reaching for his shirt and sliding it over his head. “I've gotta get back to work. Are you sticking around?”

“I've got some stuff to take care of, I'll text you tomorrow or something.”

“Cool.”

Dany nods, tossing the napkins into the trash and leaving him alone.

Jon sighs, zipping his pants and fastening his belt. He couldn't really stop thinking about what she said, about Ygritte being in love with him.  
It really was just unfathomable for him.

The notion of someone loving him.

Sure, he had his dog Ghost who loved him, even Sam and Tormund. But no one else, not really. He never allowed any one to get close enough.

Jon makes his way back into the hustle of the bar. He sees Ygritte as she makes her way through the back door, cursing loudly. He shakes his head.

_Her? In love with him?_

Tormund glares at him. “You're flies undone, mate.”

Jon looks down in a panic and realizes that Tormund had only been joking. He frowns up at him. “Fucker.”

He laughs wildly. “Oh I really do enjoy watching you fight Jon Snow, its like poetry.” He says, clapping his hand down on his shoulder.

Jon swats him away, going to pick up a over turned bar stool and grabbing a rag to wipe up some of the blood on the ground.

Could very well be his for all he knows.

That's when he sees her there, chatting up that creepy little bugger that was always skulking around the bar.

He shakes his head. Of course she goes for a guy like that. He knew the guy was rich, but was this girl actually that shallow?

Maybe he misread her.

And as Jon continued to clean up he felt himself getting more upset by the thought.

 

* * *

  

Sansa looked down at her phone with a smile, Gilly smacked the table in front of her to get her attention. She had been staring at the screen all day.

“Who are you texting?”

“That guy I met last night.” She says, reaching for her cup of green tea and taking a sip.

“You actually gave him your number?” Sansa chews quietly on her cereal, nodding her head slowly. “He's got the same modern art teacher, we are gonna study for the final together.”

“So he goes to WU?”

Sansa nods.

“I've never seen him around.”

She looks up from her phone at her friend and Gilly’s face is all seriousness. Sansa sits her phone down. “It’s a big campus.”

Gilly shrugs. “Sam just said he's a little weird is all…”

She scoffs. “Sam's a little weird.”

Gilly frowns, her eyes growing even wider. She pushes her chair back from the table and slams her bowl of cereal into the sink. “You know he may not be up to your standards

Sansa, but he's nice and sweet and that's all I really need him to be.”

“Gilly, I didn't-" Sansa tries to explain but the girl was already up the stairs. Sansa sighs, grumbling as she stands up to dump her bowl into the sink.

She really didn't mean anything by it. Yes, Sam was odd. But Sansa did like him and he was good to Gilly.

She makes her way slowly up the stairs, taking a deep breath as she knocks on her friend's door.

She remembers the shy girl who was just her roommate their first year of college. She looked like a lost puppy, and Sansa had taken her under her wing, gotten her to open up.  
Gilly had so much bad stuff happen to her in her life and Sansa never wanted to make her upset.

“Gilly.” She says, knocking softly. “Can I come in?”

No answer.

Sansa sighs. “I'm sorry, I'm a bitch.”

The door flew open and Gilly stands there, trying her hardest not to crack a smile. “You're not a bitch." She tells her seriously. "I'm just sensitive to the whole Sam thing. He already thinks he isn't good enough for me. He's just so cute and so sweet and I think… I think I am in love with him.”

It makes Sansa smile, despite her own disbeliefs in that word she loved seeing other people in love. “Really?”

Gilly nods, pulling her inside her room. There was a vanilla candle lit and it nade the whole room smell good enough to eat.

“I keep almost blurting it out to him you know just like at these random times.”

“You should tell him.” Sansa says, as the two girls ease down onto Gilly's bed. It was a California king that she had just recently paid off. She had been so tickled to make the purchase Sansa caught her jumping up and down on it after the delivery guys dropped it off.

She told her she had never owned anything so extravagant before.

“I keep waiting for him to do it, you know?” Gilly tells her, picking fuzz from her comforter.

Sansa nods. She had been the first one to say it to Joffery, but he just sort of laughed at her. He didn't start saying it back to her until she threatened to leave him. Then he would use it as this tool to keep her around.

Ans she fell for it every time.

“Maybe he's waiting for you to say it.” Sansa tells her softly, resting back against the pillows.

Gilly nods. “I've never really been in love before.”

“Neither have I.” Sansa admits, looking down at her hands.

Gilly pats her leg, “I'm sorry Sansa.”

“Don't be.”

But she remembered better than anyone the way her relationship with Joffery had gone, Gilly was there through it all. She never really pushed Sansa to talk about it or gave her grief over allowing him to treat her so awfully. She was just there, letting her cry on her shoulder when she needed. But she never made excuses for her, and when Sansa finally did break down and tell her that she wanted to leave him Gilly let her move into her apartment with her.

Their friendship had always been an easy one. They were so different, and yet so very much the same.

“Just be careful, with this guy.”

Sansa nods. “I'm always careful.”

Gilly smiles, resting her head on her friends shoulder for a moment. “You should come have ice cream with Sam and I today.”

Sansa laughs. “Are you buying?”

“Sure. If you'll keep me from just blurting out I love you when I see him.”

She laughs again, “You got a deal.”

* * *

 

  
“I love her.” Sam says, looking at Jon with a big smile on his round face. “I love her, like really, really love her.”

Jon holds up his hand to stop him. “I get it.”

Sam rolls his eyes. “You should really try it some time.”

“I'll pass, thanks.” Jon says, leaning back on his couch. He had gotten a text from Sam, saying that he needed to talk about something and so he got up from what was a very good nap and let him in.

Ghost came over to him, resting his head on his lap, his blue eyes demanding to be walked.

Jon sighs. “Give me a minute, pal.”

The dog grunted and collapsed on the floor beneath his feet.

“Did you meet Sansa last night?”

Jon glares at him. “I did.”

“She's quite pretty…” Sam pushes, looking at him with a smirk.

“Aye.”

He frowns. “You didn't like her?”

Jon scoffs. What wasn't to like? The girl looked like a goddess. But Jon was realistic. She would never go for a guy like him. Not even in some alternate universe. “she's okay.”

Sam frowns. “Okay?”

“I thought you were so in love with Gilly? Why are you checking out her best mate?”

“I'm not.” He says nervously. “I mean I appreciate her beauty is all, I thought you might appreciate it also.”

Jon smirked. He loved getting Sam all flustered it was the best part about being his friend. “I'm just taking a piss at you mate.”

Sam shook his head. “Fucker.”

“I liked the girl all right, I just don't think I'm her type.” He flipped aimlessly through the channels. There was nothing on but he needed a distraction. He kept thinking about the way she chewed on her bottom lip and looked away from him.

It was intoxicating.

“Gilly says she needs a good guy.”

Jon laughs out loud at that one, looking over at his friend. “No I am sure I'm not her type.”

Sam shook his head. “You can pretend all you want Jon Snow, I know you better than anyone else. You're the best person I know.”

Jon sighs. He never understood this admiration Sam had for him. It might have had a lot to do with how they met back in middle school, Sam was the new kid. He was fifty pounds over weight and it made him an easy target.

He never cared much for bullies, and when he saw this group of boys making fun of Sam and pushing him down while they laughed about it. Jon stepped in, kicking all three of their asses and threatening them even more bodily harm if they ever touched him again.

That day Jon made his first real friend.

Even though it felt like he adopted a stray dog for a few weeks after that first day.

“I'm not really interested in your girlfriend's friends. No need in them getting her mad at you over me being an ass.”

Sam chuckles. “Like that Amanda girl?”

“Yeah, what was her friends name?” He ask, pushing up off the couch to grab Ghost's leash from the kitchen.

“Heather?” Sam calls to him from the other

Jon laughs, thinking fondly of Heather. He really was a hound dog back then, but after that fiasco he made a promise to never date Sam's girlfriends friends again.

Sam follows him into the kitchen, he's typing something on his phone and Jon's own phone vibrates across the counter and a text from Dany pops up on the screen. He smirks, reaching for it.

“She actually slapped you didn't she?” Sam asks with a chuckle.

Jon nods. “That shit hurt.”

"You bloody well deserved it." Sam says, opening the fridge and getting out a bottle of water. Jon shrugs, laughing as he recalls the incident, he did kind of deserve it. But as he reach opens his text message. His smile quickly turning to a frown.

“What's that?”

“Dany.” He says, sliding his phone into the pocket of his basketball shorts. “She wants to talk.”

“Ah, that's not a good sign.”

Jon chuckles. “You think?” he clips the leash onto Ghost's collar and shakes his head. “As for the Gilly thing,” he tells him, picking up his tennis shoes from the floor, “I think you should tell her what you just told me.”

Sam raises an eyebrow. “That its not a good thing?”

Jon scoffs. “No, that you love her you idiot.”

Sam nods, a small smile on his face. “Thanks mate.”

He shrugs, sliding his cigarette pack into his pocket. “Its cool of you hang out, just lock up if you leave.”

“I'll just walk out with you, I'm meeting Gilly for ice cream in a bit.” He says following him a d Ghost as they head towards the door.

Jon shakes his head. “Ice cream? Really?

“We could make it a double. I'll have Gilly bring Sansa.”

“Bye Sam,” he says, opening his front door.

His friend smiles a cheeky grin. “Text me and let me know what Dany wants to talk about.”

“Bye.”

Jon was not going to text him.

He made his way slowly down the sidewalk towards the park’s address Dany had texted him. She was sitting on a park bench, phone up in the air taking a selfie on her phone.

Jon cringed.

But she looked really hot today with her black tank top and short jean shorts, so he forgives her.

She smiles when she sees him.

Ghost makes a little growling noise in the back of his throat and Jon tugs on his leash. There was something about the gorgeous blond that Ghost didn't care much for.

“Easy.” He warns.

Dany jumps up to greet him, her smile wide and full of energy.

“You're late Snow.” She tells him with a frown.

He smirks at her. “What's up?”

“Right down to business, huh?” She jokes, raising her perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him.

Jon shrugs, pulling Ghost along as the three of them begin to walk slowly down the sidewalk of the park. His eyes wandered around at the people, all of them going about their day. It was a nice sunny day so all the children were out enjoying the sunshine before they all went back to school in the fall.

“So I got a call last night, my ex boyfriend just got out of jail.”

“Ex huh?”

Dany laughs nervously. “Well you know he was my ex while he was in jail…”

“I get it.” Jon says, even though he is a little upset he doesn't get to hook up with her anymore. 

“You’re a good guy Jon, I just. I am still in love with Jorah, he's…”

There it was. Those words again. _Good guy, in love._

It was like the universe was trying to tell him something…

“Its not a big deal Dany.” He says coyly. “We had fun.”

She nods, looking up at him with those ice blue eyes of hers. “We did, aye?”

He laughs. “Can I ask what your boyfriend was locked up for?”

Dany nods. “Slave trading.”

He stares at her for a moment, she couldn't possibly be serious, but she did look very serious. She laughed, pushing his chest. “I'm kidding, obviously. He was in jail for drugs.”

Jon shrugs, and the two of them walk off. Dany stays quiet until they get to her car and then she stops, turning to him and looking up at him with a serious look on her face.  
“Can I just say that if you don't open up to someone soon you are going to be alone forever Jon Snow.”

“Wow.” She says, scratching his beard. “Thanks.”

“I’m just being honest.”

Jon nods. He really didn't know what to say to her. Maybe she was right. Or maybe she was just some crazy girl.

He was willing to bet on the latter. “Fucking hell I mean look at you with those sad puppy dog eyes and that mouth. Fuck that mouth is so damn pretty.” She says, her voice leaning into the realm of obscenity.

Jon laughs. “I thought you were in love or some shit like that…”

“I am.” She says, swatting at him. “I just think there is a good woman out there for you Jon Snow, I hope you don't miss out on her.”

He nods. “Thanks.”

Ghost tugs on his leash, he was getting bored standing still. “I guess I will see you around.”

She shrugs, “maybe.” She leans in to kiss him on his cheek and opens her car door.

Jon waves, and then he and Ghost continue on their walk. He didn't want to think about the things she said, but they were echoing in his ears as he made his way back towards his loft.

He didn't really want to be alone forever. And even girls like Dany and Ygritte expected something after a while. It was just how women worked.

And he wasn't planning on turning gay any time soon.

As he began to make his way towards his building he realized suddenly that he really didn't want to go back and sit there in the quiet with all of his thoughts. So he pulls his cell phone and does the thing he swore to himself he wouldn't do today.

**Hey Sam, where should I meet u for ice cream?**


	3. Chapter 3

Sam waved excitedly at his friend as he walked slowly up the sidewalk, large, white husky in tow.

Jon tried his best not to roll his eyes at him.

He really did love the big goofball.

“Glad you changed your mind.”

Jon shrugs, trying his best to be nonchalant about the whole thing. “Who doesn't love ice cream, right?”

Sam nods, “Gilly and Sansa should be here soon. I don't know if they allow dogs inside.” He adds that last bit in rather quickly, but Jon doesn't miss it.

Jon glares at him.

“Well you're the one that brought him.” Sam chides him.

“You didn't mention she was coming.”

“Well I didn't know until a few minutes ago. If it makes you feel better she doesn't know you're coming either…” Sam says quickly.

Jon pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Fucking hell, Sam.”

Sam pats his back. “Our plan is going swimmingly.”

“You and Gilly eh?”

He nods with a big smile on his face.

“I take back what I said, you should break up with her…”

Sam laughs so hard his eyes tear up. He had never really seen Jon act so nervous before and it was hilarious.

Jon fidgets on his feet. Ghost tugs on the leash, bringing him from his thoughts abruptly. When he finally looks up he sees them, the two girls making their way towards them.  
Sansa frowns when she sees him, and her ice cold glare only makes his hair stand on end.

It was plain to see that she did not care for him.

Sansa tugs Gilly's arm making her stop just a few feet away from where the boys stood. “You didn't tell me he was coming.” The last person she wanted to see was the roughneck from the bar, who when she saw him last night had been covered in someone else's blood.

“I didn't? Hmm, I thought I mentioned it.” she asks innocently, skipping off to greet Sam.

Sansa takes a deep breath. She could literally kill Gilly for this set up, and as she makes her way towards them she tries her hardest to smile. He was standing there in a gray t-shirt and black basketball shorts. His dark curls pulled back from his face. He had a bruise on his cheek and his knuckles had scabbed over, despite all of that he still looked handsome.

 _Stop it Sansa_ , she chides herself.

“You two met last night right?” Gilly asks, as her friend approaches them.

Jon nods, his eyes not meeting her gaze.

“Yep.” Sansa says, popping the P at the end and glaring at the brunette with a malicious look.

Jon chuckles.

Sansa does smile when she notices the white husky sitting at his feet and Jon smiles down at him lovingly.  
“Who's this?” she asks, kneeling down and offering him her hand to sniff. His wet muzzle touches her skin softly and she scratches behind his ear.

Jon tries not to be jealous.

But it really is a losing battle.

She had on a pair of faded blue jeans and a plain blueish-gray cotton t-shirt. She had a green flannel tied around her hips loosely. Her long red hair was braided to the side, the end skimming her waist. her face devoid of all the makeup she had been wearing the night before she still looked beautiful.

“Ghost.” He tells her. “I rescued him when he was a puppy.”

“He bottle fed him and everything.” Sam pipes in, and Jon rolls his eyes.

“He's sweet.” Sansa says, still scratching his head. “Sweet boy.” She coos, her hand still in his fur as she raised up from her squat. She was just a little shorter than him without the heels she wore the night before.

“Will they let him in?” Sansa muses, her blue eyes scanning over him quickly.

Jon shrugs. “I just tell people he's a service dog.”

She almost cracks a smile but thinks better of it. Playing absently with the end of her braid instead.

It was almost awkward, Jon thinks as they all settle at the picnic table outside the ice cream shop. He sat next to Sam and across from Sansa, who had been on her phone most of the time. She was quiet, and he found himself wondering what was going on inside of her head. Gilly and Sam made up the bulk of the conversation, and they joined in when either of their names are mentioned. But Jon keeps his attention on Ghost and Sansa keeps her eyes on her phone.

He digs his spoon into his vanilla ice cream. It had always been his favorite and he didn't miss the raise of her eyebrow when he just ordered a bowl of vanilla ice cream no toppings or anything. Also so he could share with Ghost.

He offered him a spoonful and he licked it from the spoon eagerly and Jon smiled at him.

Sansa can't help but smile as she watches the two of them together. When she did allow herself to steal a look at him he was interacting with the dog, and she found it adorable how in sync the pair seemed to be. It was almost as if they communicated with each other on some level.

And Jon can't help but notice her smiling.

“How old is he?” She asks, sitting her phone to the side for the first time since they had sit down.

“He's about four.” Jon tells her, offering him another spoonful. The large dog almost seems to smile as he finishes, and rests his head on the picnic table, his red eyes on her.

Well she sure does likes his dog. Jon thinks, taking a bite for himself.

“He usually doesn't like strangers.” Jon offers. Hoping to earn him his own smile from the red haired beauty sitting across from him.

Sansa nods, looking at him with an expressionless gaze. She almost looks annoyed with him.

Jon shrugs it off. It wasn't like he actually thought the two of then would even work out. At this point he was just trying to be friendly. With the way both of their friends were acting, it seems like they might be seeing quite a lot of each other.

Sam leans across the table, taking a bite of the ice cream Gilly is offering him. She giggles putting her hand over her mouth and Sam's face turns red.

It was sickening really, and Jon turned his attention back to his dog.

Ghost was inching closer to Sansa, his eyes full of curiosity.

“Come here sweet boy.” She says, her eyes lighting up.

Jon shakes his head, he had all but given up but Sam nudges him a little, tilting his head towards her, even Gilly smiles at him encouragingly.

These two really were something else.

Jon rolls his eyes. “What are you studying in school?”

Sansa looks up from Ghost, her hand still scratching his chin. “Modern arts and business.”

“Sansa wants to open up an art gallery.” Gilly tells him.

Jon nods, turning his attention back to the ice cream in front of him.

“What do you do, I mean besides tend bar?” Sansa asks, much to his surprise.

“Not much really.”

“Jon's a writer.” Sam offers, and Jon turns to glare at his friend.

“A writer?” Sansa asks, almost as if she was shocked by the notion.

Jon scratches his jaw nervously. He didn't really like talking about his writing. It was such a private thing he did just for him. “Its just a hobby.”

She smiles. “Is it just smut that you write or does it actually have some merit to it?”

“It's poetry actually.” He says, feeling incredibly stupid for admitting it out loud.

But Sansa doesn't laugh, she actually looks a little impressed.

Jon tries not to smile, she was just breathtakingly beautiful with her teeth digging into her bottom lip. She tucks a loose tendrils of red hair behind her ear and looks across the table at him.

She thinks, maybe that she's had him pegged wrong this entire time, but she looks down at the scabs across his knuckles, and the bruise on his cheek, hidden mostly by his beard. And she dismisses the thought as quickly as it came.

_No._

She knew his type.

And Sansa promised herself a long time ago that she would not let another angry guy lead her astray.

 

* * *

 

 

He sat across the street, hiding behind today's newspaper, his ice blue eyes fixated on her.

It was a simple app that allowed him to keep tabs on where she was.

Ramsay had ways of keeping track of women he was interested in.

She looked a little bored, and he took refuge in that. But anyone else might think the four of them were on a double date. Sure, she wasn't his yet, but he fully intended to make that happen. She was just his type.

Sad, a little broken, a little naïve.

Beautiful.

He doesn't think he has ever had a girl more beautiful, Sansa Stark would be his greatest conquest.

He licked his lips eagerly, his eyes never leaving her. He picks up his phone and sends her a text message. He watches carefully as her eyes move from the large white dog she had been petting towards her phone, a smile creeping across her face as she reads the sweet message he had written.

**I bet you look beautiful today**

She smiles, texting him back, and Ramsay can't help but smirk.

Yes, he thinks, I have her right where I want her…


	4. Chapter 4

Sansa slid her flannel on, it had gotten colder since the night had fallen and she found herself sitting on the top deck of Giantsbane, listening to Tormund tell a story about a drunken Jon trying to get into his apartment.

“I don't know what he was expecting really? I think he thinks he is Superman or something.”

“Spiderman,” Jon cuts in, looking at his friend with a drunken smile. 

Tormund waves him off and Gilly giggles into her hand. She was sitting next to Sansa on the bench, giddily drunk from the sweet wine that Tormund had given them all to drink.

The bar was in full swing that night, but the roar of the music and the wild patrons was merely a dull buzz up on the deck.

VIP section, Tormund had called it.

Only entrance was through his office, which seemed like a glorified broom closet to Sansa. She had avoided touching any surfaces as the small group made their way outside.

It was a cool night, fall just buzzing beneath the breezy summer air.

It was her favorite time of year, when the leaves changed.

“You know he was showing off too.” Sam cuts in. “There were like three girls watching from the sidewalk as he climbed.”

Jon glares at him. “Yeah three girls who watched me break my ankle.”

Tormund laughs loudly, booming almost louder than the rock music below. “Ah, he always makes me laugh.” He swallows a big gulp of his ale and smirks at Jon as he claps him on the back. “Any more embarrassing stories I can tell tp the ladies?”

Jon shakes his head. “I think you've about covered it.”

Tormund laughs a belly laugh, looking at the two girls. “I have to keep him humble, with those good pretty looks of his. Its good to take him down a few pegs.”

Sansa shakes her head at him. Maybe it was the wine and the way his face looked under the dim lights strewn along the deck, but he was quite handsome.

She reaches to pet Ghost, who had been at her side since they left the ice cream shop. She had even taken the leash from Jon, guiding him with ease.

“His pecker is small too—” his voice booms again and even Sam has a hard time controlling his laughter.

Jon seems to be a good sport about all the teasing, and Sansa tries not to meet his gaze. But it almost felt magnetic. When she met his eyes, he offered her a small quirk of a smile. She would have missed it of she blinked.

“Ah well, as much as I enjoy the company of you lovely ladies but I have a business to run.”

He leaves them then, and an awkward quiet falls over the four of them. Gilly gets up to join Sam, easing down into the seat next to his and Sansa finds her eyes drifting towards Jon.

She tries not to focus on the fact that he is already looking at her but she bites her bottom lip to keep from smiling and it just ends up looking like she's trying to flirt.

Jon walks over to her, one hand in the pocket of his jeans, the other holding his solo cup of wine.

“I think he likes you more than me now.” He says, nodding towards his dog.

She smirks. “He's a sweetheart.”

Jon eases down on the bench next to her. 

She hears Gilly giggling and she shakes her head, looking right at him as she speaks. “Looks like our friends are falling in love over there…”

He nods, leaning back casually, he rests his arm over the back of the bench, mere inches from her. His other arm on the armrest, one finger tapping against the rim of his cup. “I think they've already fallen.”

She nods in agreement.

“You know they've been trying to set us up?”He does not miss the blush creeping across her cheeks, its quite cute actually and he smiles despite himself.

“What a dumb idea.” She says, but her words are playful.

He smirks. “We could never work out,”

“Never, not in a million years.” She takes a long sip of her wine and looks away from him.

God he couldn't help himself. She was just so beautiful, and she did seem like she was warming up to him a little—or maybe it was just the wine.

“I've known Sam to have some shitty ideas, but this one takes the cake.”

Sansa laughs, her face full of mock offense. “Am I that awful?”

He shakes his head, leaning a little closer to her as he speaks in a husky voice. “I was gonna ask you the same thing.”

Did he notice the way her heartbeat picked up? _Surely he couldn't hear it,_ Sansa thinks as she looks into his brooding eyes. 

“I mean, you haven't so much spoke more than a few sentences to me all day.”

Sansa nods. “You haven't exactly been talkative towards me either—” she gets cut off by her phone ringing and she lunges for it like a lifeline.

He scoffs, and she turns to glare at him. “Its my mother—”

Jon's face softens but he does still look annoyed. Sansa takes her phone and walls over to the other side of the deck, leaning against the rail as she slides the green answer button across her lock screen.

“Hey mom.”

“How are you darling? I feel like we haven't spoken in ages.”

It had been two days, but whose counting?

“Is everything okay? It's late there…”

“Oh yes, everything is fine. I was just calling to check up on you.”

Sansa smiles, “Everything's fine, mom.”

She tried not to let it bother her so much that her mom worried about her more than any of her other children. Even Bran who was permanently disabled didn't receive as many phone calls throughout the week as she did.

“How are your classes going?”

“They're fine.” Sansa assures her, playing absently with her braid, she turns it over in her hand, then twirls the end around her finger as her mom drones on about the comings and goings in Winterfell. Their estate which had been in her father's family for generations. It used to be so full of life and family, but her and Robb had been living in the city and Arya had been across the country for her job, while Bran was away at school. The only child she had left was Rickon, and he is fifteen, well past the age where he wanted to do anything with her.  
Sansa knew her mother was lonely, so she allotted her these conversations whenever she called.

“I've been chatting with him for some time—” 

Sansa comes back to focus, hearing what her mother has said. “Chatting?”

“You know the little Facebook chat thingy, he's asked me to see a movie with him.”

“Who is he again?”

“A man I went to high school with, Petyr Baelish.” She drones on, talking about the crush he had on her in school, how he had been such a loyal friend.

She commits the name to memory so she can look him up later.

“Is it serious?” Sansa asks, her voice feels like sandpaper in her throat. She is thinking of her father, of the way he loved her mother.

The two of them were like a fairytale.

Sansa couldn't picture her mother being with any one else.

“We are just friends, darling.” She assures her, after a beat she begins again. “I've babbled long enough, I'll let you go.”

“Okay. I love you.”

“Love you too darling.” She makes a kissing noise and hangs up.

It takes her more than a moment to recover from that conversation. She knows she was the first one she mentioned it to, Sansa was always the first one who found out about these sort of things.

Her and her mother had always been close.

But this was one tidbit of info, Sansa wished her mother had kept to herself.

She turns around, finding Jon pouring himself another cup of wine, Gilly and Sam had retreated further into the corner, seeking privacy.

Suddenly she felt sick.

“S'everything okay?” Jon asks her.

She nods, barely hearing him. “Hey, Gilly I'm gonna head home, I'm really tired.”

Gilly looks at Sam, her smile slowly fading.

“Okay, I'll just—”

“No, you stay, you guys have fun.” She insists, “I'll just walk, its—”

“I could walk you.” Jon offers.

Sansa shakes her head at him.

“Yes, Sansa you can't walk home alone, its dark. Thank you Jon.” She stumbles over her words, more than a little drunk.

Sansa looks over at him, with a shrug she tucks her phone into her back pocket. “

Thanks.” She says, her jaw clenched tightly to keep from smiling at him.

“Ghost.” He pats his leg. “to me.” And the big dog comes to his side. “Don't worry, he'll keep us both safe.”

She rolls her eyes, looking towards Sam and Gilly. “You two crazy kids take care.”

Both of them nod and wave as the trio make their way through the janky office, and Sansa draws in a deep breath, exhaling loudly.

“You sure you're alright?”

She looks over her shoulder at him, in the dark office his face seems softer. “Just my mom.”

He's quiet again, leading her through the rowdy bar, he guides her with a hand on her back and she doesn't tug away from him.

A small part of her actually enjoys the pressure of his hand there, the warmth she can feel through her clothes.

When they are out on the sidewalk, past the crowd of the bar he lets his hand fall, and Sansa watches him slide it into his pocket.

“She's seeing someone.” She finally says. Her voice flat and uneven. It felt even worse now that she has said it out loud.

“Ah,” he looks over at her, “your parents divorced?”

She shakes her head, heart wrenching in her chest. “My father's passed.”

Jon's eyes soften, and he steps a little close to her. “I'm sorry, Sansa.”

“Don't—” she brushes her fingers through her hair, hand shaking as she does. “I hate when people say that.”

He nods. “My mother, she passed when I was young, and my father, he uh—he died not long after.”

“Who raised you?” she asks, almost regretting the words as they pass her lips.

She was prying, this was none of her business.

She was always doing that, sticking her nose where it didn't belong. 

Jon is quiet for a long time, and then he chuckles. “No one really. I grew up in foster care, in and out of boys homes until I was eighteen.”

Her turn to grow quiet. 

“I did have one foster dad, Davos, he helped me a lot, as much as he could—” his voice trails off again.

Sansa takes him in, suddenly so different now that she knows this part of him. He made so much more sense to her now.

“Do you still talk to him?”

Jon shakes his head. “No, I messed that up. I got into some trouble with the law a few years back and he went out on a limb to keep me out of jail.”

She wanted to ask him why, but she doesn't she feels like she's pried too much into his life for one night.

The quiet settles around them, the only noise is the fading sounds of the city and Ghost’s panting breath.

Sansa finds herself wishing her house was further, that they could walk together a little longer. It was an easy, comfortable silence that had fallen around them, and she was basking in it.

She decides inside that moment that he isn't so bad.

Maybe they could be friends…

The house comes into view and Sansa takes her house key from her pocket, looking over at him, waiting. 

“I've uh—” he scratches behind his ear and looks down at his feet. “never really told anyone about all that stuff, Sam knows, but I just—”

She shakes her head. “I won't tell anyone.”  
He nods, his dark eyes drifting towards her house. 

“Do you wanna come in?” She asks, suddenly not wanting to be alone just yet.

Jon really wants to, he does, but something inside of him just can't bring himself to admit it.

Something about just didn't feel right.

Not tonight.

“I'm pretty beat, actually.”

Sansa nods, “oh—”

“Not that I don't want to, I mean I do…”

A smile tugs at her lips and she nods again, she pats Ghost's head and eases up her front steps. “No worries, really. I was just being polite.”

Recognition lights up his face and her scratches behind his ear. 

She spins her key ring around her finger, eyes dancing over him. She turns to unlock her door, embarrassed when it sticks.

Sansa knocks into it with her hip, and she can hear him chuckle behind her. “It gets stuck some times.” She offers.

She almost lets out a frustrated sigh but with another swing of her hip against the old wood it flies open.

He's smirking when she turns around to look at him.

“I could take a look at that for you, I’m pretty good with my hands.” And he feels like an idiot before she even cracks her amused smile.

 _I bet you are._ “Yeah, sure.”

He waves, backing away, leading Ghost a little down the sidewalk. “I'll see you ‘round?”

She nods, the only thing she offers him as he begins walking away.

As Sansa shuts the door behind her she can't help but smile. Deciding in that moment that she was very wrong about Jon Snow.

She locks the door behind her, flipping on the lights as she went through the house. Smile teasing at her lips as she makes her way upstairs.

Her hand pulls a towel from the shelf, and she flips on the bathroom light, her reflection almost alien to her in the mirror.

That smile, that gleam in her eyes—it was subtle really, but she could see her there. The girl she used to be, the Sansa she was before all the bad shit started happening to her.

The person she was before her world crumbled.

“Hello stranger,” she says softly, undoing the rubberband at the end of her hair and letting it fall from its braid.

She turns to the shower, yanking the curtain back and turning the hot water on.

Her phone vibrates in her back pocket and she takes it out looking at the screen, Ramsay's latest text lighting up her screen.

She clicks her phone off and leaves it sitting on the sink as she undressed for her shower.

She would text him back tomorrow. 

Maybe.

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

She wakes up to the sound of power tools. Which is really alarming because she and Gilly didn't so much as own a screwdriver…

Sansa practically hops down the stairs, her eyes widening when she sees him standing there, drilling something into her door jamb.

His hair was pulled back from his face, little tendrils gad fallen from the back and the curled even more from the sweat.

She realizes suddenly the state she's in herself, her oversized t-shirt and saggy pajama bottoms make her feel quite frumpy.

In a rush she turns around, but ends up bumping right into Gilly who is holding a bottle of cold water. It goes flying from her hands, sliding across the hardwood floor.

The commotion grabs his attention and the drill cuts out making the next thing that Sansa said way louder than she ever intended it to be.

“You could have warned me he was here,”

Gilly smirks. 

Jon goes to pick up the water bottle and Sansa pretends not to notice his eyes trailing over her.

Her face heats up and she smoothes her hair down. “I am just gonna go and change—” and she is off before either of them can speak. 

Gilly looks at him, a smile tugging at her lips. “Didn't you say Sansa asked you to come round this morning to fix the door?”

He looks at her innocently, “did I?”

“Um-hmm.” She nods knowingly at him, picking up her bag from the counter. “Can you two behave while I’m at work or should I have Sam come over to babysit?”

“I'm almost finished now…” he tells her. “then I'll be out of her hair.”

Gilly pats his arm as she makes her way through the door. “Good luck.” She yells over her shoulder.

Jon shakes his head, amusement creeping into his smile. He hears her coming down the stairs, and he picks his drill back up, and busies himself with the task at hand.

Sansa slips her sandals on as she makes her way into the kitchen. She traded her pajamas for a pair of black yoga pants and a raglan t-shirt with a UW logo on the front of it. She fixes a pot of coffee, busying herself with anything other than the handsome mam fixing her door.

She even unloads the dishwasher, she could quite literally count on one hand the amount pf times she unloaded a dishwasher in this house.

The drilling stops and she hears the front door shut. Her eyes automatically flick to him.

He's knelt down now, tinkering with the door knob. His jeans fit him snug, and Sansa could not help but notice the curve of his bottom.

As he rises up from his crouch she turns away, knocking over her cup and sending it tumbling into the floor.

It shatters in a dozen pieces, and Sansa lets out a loud curse that makes him chuckle.  
“That was my favorite bloody mug.” She says, opening up the pantry to pull out the broom and dustpan.

Jon opens the door again, it looks effortless and smooth from where she is standing.

“I think you're fixed. Wanna give it a try?”  
Sansa eases over to him trying not to look right at him, if she did, she woulf be done for.  
She slips past him through the threshold, and he steps out right behind her closing the door behind him.

Her hand reaches for the doorknob, she gives it a turn eyes lighting up when it comes open without a hassle.

She laughs, looking over at him. He is already smiling at her, and the sight of it is beautiful.   
“Thanks Jon.”

He nods, his eyes not meeting hers. 

“You know I didn't think you'd come by and fix it today…” she tells him, pushing it the rest of the way open and looking back, making sure he follows her back inside. 

“I didn't have anything else to do.” He says, shutting the door behind him. “It literally took twenty minutes, not a big deal.”

She smiles, opening the cabinet and getting down two mugs for coffee. “Do you like French toast?”

He nods, watching her as she pulls a pan out of the cabinet. She leaves it sitting on the stove, opening the fridge and pulling out a carton of eggs. 

Jon can't quite put his finger on what it was yet, but something about her was drawing him in.

He was intoxicated by the way she moved.

“I used to make this for my little brothers all the time, they would rave about my French toast if they were here.”

“Oh yeah? Its that good?”

She nods, opening the cinnamon and adding it to the eggs. “I don't wanna brag or anything.”

“Course not.” He smirks, eyes drawn to the curve of her hips as she stirs the contents of the bowl around. “How many siblings do you have?”

Sansa turns around, looking right at him as she unties the bread tie and pulls out a few pieces of bread. “Three brothers, one sister. I am the second oldest.”

“That must have been fun growing up.”

A smile lights up her face as she recalls her childhood. The time before everything went sour. There was always something going on in Winterfell, her childhood home was always full of life and laughter.

“It was, yeah.” The sounds of the toast frying feels the room and the smell of cinnamon makes his mouth water.

Jon can't help but think about his own childhood. The endless reel of homes, he was in and out of them so fast that he lost track of them. They all blended together. 

“My family was always really close, until my father passed.” Sansa tells him, drawing him from his daydream. “Then we all just sort of fell apart.”

“How did it happen?”

Sansa looks back down at the toast in the pan, flipping it over and trying to ignore the flashes of memories behind her eyes. The sound pf crunching metal, the screams, the blood.

“Sansa?”

She turns around, her eyes sad and lost. “It was a car accident.”

Jon nods, he wants to tell her not to say anymore, but she is speaking again before the words leave his lips.

“He was driving me to the mall, me and my sister and little brother.” She takes a deep breath. “I was mad at him,” she laughs a little but her voice and her eyes are sad. “He wouldn't let me get my belly buttoned pierced, of all things.”

Sansa turns around, taking another piece of bread and adding it to the pan. 

“I can still remember everything, the song that was playing on the radio, the laughter from the backseat, his chuckling next to me.” She looks at him and shakes her head. “I'm sorry—”

“Don't apologize.” He tells her. 

Sansa nods. “I just wish I could forget it, that whole dreadful day.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling.”

A smile creeps onto her face and she turns her attention back to the food. 

The conversation over their food is much lighter. Jon talks about the time he and Sam got lost on a camping trip, how Sam really truly thought they were going to die. He's laughing as he recalls their adventure. His eyes crinkling at the corners, as he chuckles.

The sound makes Sansa smile at him.

He was beautiful.

Sansa is about to ask him how they made it out alive when the front door flies open.

Margaery stands there, eyes wide and full of amusement. “Oh, hi.”

Sansa sighs. “What's up?”

She looks back behind her, and then back to Sansa and Jon sitting at the counter enjoying their breakfast. “We didn't know you had company.”

“We?”

Robb walks through the door then, he looks upset, and that only intensifies when he sees the man having breakfast with his little sister.  
“I've been calling you.”

She stands up from her seat, taking both of their plates away. “I must have forgotten to charge my phone.”

“Uh-huh.” His eyes land on Jon.

Despite the fact that she was twenty one and well past the age where her honor needed protected, Robb had yet to get that memo.

Sansa looks to Margaery for help.

“Are you Sam's friend?” she asks Jon, “We met at the bar, right?”

He nods, standing up to shake her hand.

“Jon, its uh—Margaery right?”

She nods. 

“I'm Robb, Sansa's brother.” Tge eldest Stark informs him, soumding just like their father, dropping his voice a few octaves and making it sound deeper.

Jon extends his hand. Robb looks at it for a moment before he takes it. Their eyes are locked and the tension rises in the room. 

“Jon was just fixing my front door.” Sansa tells them. “As you can see its much easier to open now.”

Margaery lets out a small laugh and Robb glares at her.

“Have you talked to mom?” he asks, walking towards her fridge.

She nods, “kast night.”

“Did she tell you she went on a date?” he asks, opening a can of soda.

Sansa shakes her head. “No, she only mentioned she was talking to someone.”

Jon looks at Margaery and the two of them exchange a smile. 

“Rickon called me last night, he said she was out with a man.”

“Petyr Baelish.” Sansa says. 

Robb glares at her. “You know his name? How am I the last person to know about this guy?”

Sansa shrugs. “Maybe because you react like that…”

Margaery walks over, touching his arm as she passes. “He's only slept about two hours.”

Robb takes a deep breath. “Did you make French toast?”

She smiles goimg to make him and Margaery a plate, offering Jon another cup of coffee. The four of them sit at the table and Robb continues to freak out about their mom dating again.

“Its been nine years.” Sansa says, trying to calm him a little. She herself wasn't pleased about their mother being with someone else, but they couldn't expect her to be alone the rest of her life.

“Eight.” Robb corrects her, rising up from the table and walking outside. 

Margaery looks at Sansa, she looked tired. She had probably been up with Robb all night, listening to him fuming over this. 

“I'll be right back.” She looks at Jon, a silent question if he was okay. She didn't know how she felt about leaving Margaery and Jon alone. Her friend had an endless stream of embarrassing stories she could tell him about her. “Behave,” she warns her friend as she leaves to talk to her brother.

Robb is standing at the far end of her porch his entire body is tense and rigid. 

She has seen him like this before, he stood this same way outside the funeral home on the day of their father's service. He had been just seventeen, still a boy.

But he was a man now. A man who had been through so many things. He lived through the war, he fought for their country and freedoms. Sansa could not even imagine the horrors he had seen.

She liked to blame the war for changing her brother.

But the truth was Robb Stark changed the day their father died. 

“Robb?”  
He turns around, his face was pained, his jaw clenched tightly to hide the tears she knew he wanted to cry.

“It still feels like it happened yesterday.” He tells her. “to me, I mean I still feel like we lost him yesterday.”

“I know.”

He sighs, his face and tone softening a little. Some times he forgot that she had a front row seat to their father's death. “I'm sorry Sans.”

She shakes her head. “Please don't say that.”

He nods. “I'm just—its getting to be that time of year and I lose myself, every time.”

She touches his arm, and Robb tugs her into a hug. “It sucks. I know.” She says, words muffled by his shirt.

They stay that way for a moment and then Robb pulls her away, holding her arms, making her feel like a little kid again about to be scolded for something she did. “Who is this guy?”

Sansa laughs. “They went to high school together or something—”

“No I meant the bloke in your kitchen.”

“Ah—” she laughs. “He’s just a friend.”

Robb nods, but she can still see the subtle anger in those blue eyes.

“Marge said you've only slept an hour last night…”

He sighs, raking his hand through his auburn curls. “Give or take.”

“Why don't you guys crash in the guest bedroom and I'll make dinner.”

Robb quirks an eyebrow at her. “Will your friend be joining us?”

Sansa swats his arm. “Get some sleep Robb,”

He smirks, tugging her under his arm as they make their way back inside. They had always been very close, and Sansa was glad that they had only gotten closer as they had gotten older.

“—and then she tripped right over…” Margaery stopped, “Hey guys.”

Sansa sighs. “Was she telling you embarrassing stories about me?”

Jon only smirks at her, and Margaery smiles widely, as Robb slides his arms around her shoulders and kisses her cheek. 

“Sansa said we could nap in the guest room,” He tells her. “she also invited us for dinner.”

She smiles and his face disappears in her thick light brown locks. “You had me at nap.”

Robb looks up, his eyes landing on Jon.

“You're staying too Snow.”

“Do I get to nap with you as well?”

Robb smirks, and Sansa can tell he's starting to warm up to him a little now. “Aye, if you want.”

Sansa laughs, grabbing his shirt and tugging him up from his chair. “I need someone to help me with the groceries.”

He nods, a mock frown on his face.

The two of them set off, while Robb and Margaery head into the guest room. Sansa kept it nice and made up at all times. Robb ran his hand over the sheets, his eyes tired and somewhere far away.

“You sure you're okay, love?” Margaery asks, her voice barely a whisper from the other side of the room where she was sliding her jeans off.

Robb nods, looking at her with a devilish smirk. “You're wearing the red underwear still?”

Margaery laughs. She had got this whole lingerie set at the mall and surprised him with it. Little did either of them know what was conspiring at Winterfell.

Rickon, like his older brother could be a tad bit dramatic at times. Margaery knew he was upset about his mother dating, she knew all the Stark children would be, but she was still a little sour that it had ruined their whole night.

“Yeah, and I am going to continue wearing them.”

Robb shakes his head, a yawn crawling up the back of his throat. “I'm too tired anyway…”

She smirks, walking over to kiss him, her lips landing just at the corner of his mouth.   
Some times she loved him more than anything, and that's what scared her most about this beautiful man. How she loved him so much and so deeply and yet he could be shipping off, back to a war at the drop of a hat.

They settle into the bed, Margaery nestles her head in the crook of his arm, falling into a peaceful sleep.

 

 


End file.
